Calling the API by making HTTP Query requests
This section contains general information about using the Query API for Amazon Organizations. For details about the API operations and errors, see the Amazon Organizations API Reference.
Note
Instead of making direct calls to the Amazon Organizations Query API, you can use one of the Amazon
SDKs. The Amazon SDKs consist of libraries and sample code for various programming
languages and platforms (Java, Ruby, .NET, iOS, Android, and more). The SDKs provide a
convenient way to create programmatic access to Amazon Organizations and Amazon. For example, the
SDKs take care of tasks such as cryptographically signing requests, managing errors, and
retrying requests automatically. For information about the Amazon SDKs, including how to
download and install them, see Tools for Amazon
Web Services
The Query API for Amazon Organizations lets you call service actions. Query API requests are HTTPS
requests that must contain an Action parameter to indicate the operation to be
performed. Amazon Organizations supports GET and POST requests for all operations. That is, the API
doesn't require you to use GET for some actions and POST for others. However, GET requests
are subject to the limitation size of a URL. Although this limit is browser dependent, a
typical limit is 2048 bytes. Therefore, for Query API requests that require larger sizes,
you must use a POST request.
The response is an XML document. For details about the response, see the individual action pages in the Amazon Organizations API Reference.
Endpoints
Amazon Organizations has a single global API endpoint that is hosted in the US East (N. Virginia) Region.
For more information about Amazon endpoints and regions for all services, see Regional endpoints in the Amazon Web Services General Reference.
HTTPS required
Because the Query API returns sensitive information such as security credentials, you must use HTTPS to encrypt all API requests.
Signing Amazon Organizations API requests
Requests must be signed using an access key ID and a secret access key. We strongly recommend that you don't use your Amazon Web Services account root user credentials for everyday work with Amazon Organizations. You can use the credentials for a user or role.
To sign your API requests, you must use Amazon Signature Version 4. For information about using Signature Version 4, see Signing Amazon API requests in the IAM User Guide.
Amazon Organizations doesn't support earlier versions, such as Signature Version 2.
For more information, see the following:
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Amazon Security Credentials – Provides general information about the types of credentials that you can use to access Amazon.
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Security best practices in IAM – Offers suggestions for using the IAM service to help secure your Amazon resources, including those in Amazon Organizations.
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Temporary security credentials in IAM – Describes how to create and use temporary security credentials.